Toni Pi is a passionate padel player and coach from Spain who has been playing and coaching padel for over a decade. Toni has a strong background in sports, having started playing tennis at the age of 7 and joining the tennis competition at age 11. He later moved on to soccer, which he played until he was 18. However, his passion for racket sports was reignited when he discovered padel, a fast and fun sport that he was encouraged to try by his mother, who had also started playing.
Toni took many padel lessons to develop his skills, with his tennis background serving as an advantage. He is grateful for the guidance of his coaches in helping him transition from tennis to padel. Toni believes that padel has the potential to have a significant impact in Australia, a country with a strong racket sports culture. He also appreciates that anyone can play padel, regardless of their skill level, and enjoys the fast pace and tension of the game.
Toni has played on the Catalan circuit for the last seven years and has achieved considerable success as a player, having been ranked in the top 50 of Catalonia and winning private tournaments in the first category. Although he has not made playing tournaments in Australia his primary goal, he intends to participate in the Australian Padel Tour to maintain his padel rhythm.
Toni has been coaching for the last decade, having worked with players of all levels, from beginners to those still competing on the professional circuit. He has learned from top professionals, including Pablo Crosetti and Marcela Ferrari, for whom he worked for six years. Toni holds both Catalan and Spanish padel licenses, which have helped him understand the sport technically and tactically, as well as Catalan and Spanish coaching licenses, which allow him to sit on the official competition benches.
At Padel Gold Coast, Toni is the head coach, responsible for creating a good padel school and growing the padel community at the club. He also works in the pro shop and organises Americanas, matches, and other events to make people enjoy padel. Toni hopes to make people understand the sport better and help grow the padel community in Australia, with a particular focus on developing the sport with children and supporting the federation’s main circuit.
In the long term, Toni dreams of helping grow padel in Australia by developing padel schools across the country. He would love to be part of the Australian team as a coach and help bring them to the world cup final stage.
Toni is proud to represent Black Crown, a brand that he has been loyal to for many years. He appreciates that it is a close brand and a leader in the market.
He is also excited to be a part of the UI Sports team, which he describes as a young and dynamic team that shares his passion for padel.
